Append text to cell value based on dropdown selection - excel

Question

I have a formula to combine several values:
Value in column C
Add 'And' if there is a space
Drop down selection value in column I
Assigned value based on dropdown selection in column I (e.g. B1, C1)
Append B1 or C1 to value in column C, result shown in column M
The formula in column M:
=IF(I15="Truck",CLEAN(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and ","And"),CHAR(32),"")),IF(I15="Bus",CLEAN(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and","And"),CHAR(32),"")& "B1"),IF(I15="Car",CLEAN(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and","And"),CHAR(32),"")),"")& "C1"))
It works except for one tiny part; whenever the value in column C is blank, C1 is populated into column M by default. The value in column M should be blank.
Any thoughts?

Answer 1

The real issue is when I15 is blank. Run through with the "Evaluate Formula" tool, and you should see it, but if you break your code out and format it with indentations/new lines, etc:
=IF(I15="Truck",
CLEAN(
SUBSTITUTE(
SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and ","And"), 'Should this be "and" rather than "and " to match the "Bus" and "Car"?
CHAR(32),
""
)
),
IF(I15="Bus",
CLEAN(
SUBSTITUTE(
SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and","And"),
CHAR(32),
""
)& "B1"
),
IF(I15="Car",
CLEAN(
SUBSTITUTE(
SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and","And"),
CHAR(32),
""
)
), 'Should this bracket be after the "C1" instead of here?
""
)& "C1"
)
)
Now, trace through if I15 is blank: I15 is not "Truck" and I15 is not "Bus", so we get:
=IF(FALSE,
N/A,
IF(FALSE,
N/A,
IF(I15="Car",
CLEAN(
SUBSTITUTE(
SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and","And"),
CHAR(32),
""
)
), 'Should this bracket be after the "C1" instead of here?
""
)& "C1"
)
)
Simplify that down, and you get:
IF(I15="Car",
CLEAN(
SUBSTITUTE(
SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and","And"),
CHAR(32),
""
)
),
""
)& "C1"
But, I15 is blank, not "Car", so it becomes IF(FALSE, N/A, "") & "C1" - meaning, it will always say "C1" if I15 is not "Bus" or "Truck".
Also, you probably can simplify your code down to =CLEAN(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(C15),"and","And"),CHAR(32),"")) & IF(I15="Bus", "B1", IF(I15="Car", "C1", ""))
If you can set up a table somewhere, you can change the IF statement to a VLOOKUP, or if you have a table for the Drop-down values you can use CHOOSE(MATCH(..))